Student fee board agrees on proposed CAPS fee, mixed consensus on proposed library fee
Early straw polls show fee increase for Counseling and Psychological Services, or CAPS, is popular with the Utah State University student fee board. New fees for the Merrill-Cazier Library have mixed reviews.
On Wednesday Jan. 8, at 5 p.m. the student fee board met in the USUSA Senate Chambers to discuss fee increases that will affect Utah State students in coming years. New fees include a $3.46 increase for Counseling and Psychological Services and $1.50 for the library. The $3.46 breaks down to 49 cents for CAPS and $2.97 for the Health and Wellness Center.
“I’ve said this before, and I will say this again. I do find this one of the most important committees that students serve on,” executive vice president Dexton Lake said.
Speaking to the fee board, he added, “I would caution you to only accept those student fees which are for the betterment of the student body as a whole.”
Scott Deberard, director of counseling services and student health, presented the fee increase for CAPS. The $3.46 represents 49 cents for counseling services, and $2.97 to help Student Health and Wellness hire a full-time psychologist.
According to Deberard, data from the American College Health Association (ACHA) shows nearly 60 percent of students in 2019 reported to ACHA that they experienced overwhelming anxiety.
“I think this is why we are seeing demand just go through the roof in terms of CAPS services and mental health services across campus,” Deberard said.
Deberard also said data reveal that at all major Utah schools, nearly two percent of the student body indicates they have attempted suicide in the last 12 months.
“We really need to be vigilant about mental health, because I think it can spiral out of control like it has the last few years,” Deberard said.
The 49 cents per student increase will go towards helping CAPS continue to provide competitive salaries for interns. Student Health and Wellness will be using the $2.97 increase for the salary of a full-time psychologist that focuses in primary care.
“With a psychologist, we would likely increase our mental health appointments by 1,000 during the year, and this person would be able to see 200 additional student health clients each year,” Deberard said.
It is important to note that CAPS received a $10.46 increase from the student body last year. Deberard said the funds were used to hire a psychologist, social worker and licensed marriage and family therapist. It also increased the salary of three or four interns who elect to do their internship with CAPS.
“We are seeing 25 percent more clients this year, over last year, because of the increase in funding,” Deberard said.
Counseling services has also been able to implement single session appointments for students who want to be seen immediately. In the past, this could take several weeks.
Senator Sakia Brost, from the College of Agricultural and Applied Sciences, said she was “leery” because CAPS had not attempted to seek funding outside of student fees. However, James Morales, vice president for student affairs, said the state legislature is not giving funding for health services and CAPS has “nowhere else to go in terms of funding.”
“When it comes to mental health, I would rather overpay and figure it out later than underpay and find out we turned away students who were in need,” student body president Sami Ahmed said.
A preliminary vote showed that nearly 100 percent of the board favored the CAPS fees, with one senator voting to abstain.
The new fees for the library were presented next, with dean of libraries Bradford Cole and collection management librarian Robert Heaton.
“We get a lot of feedback,” Heaton said. “It’s overwhelmingly positive, students love our spaces and the services they provide.” Heaton added that the library services about 18,000 people each week.
Currently, Heaton said library fees are going towards databases, library catalogs, search engines on their homepage and the cost of computer replacements. A one dollar increase will go towards hiring an Open Educational Resources (OER) coordinator. OER materials are resources that students can access free of cost at the library. These include textbooks, online classes, lesson plans and study guides. An OER coordinator would help instructors find course materials, create free material and help students find their courses with OER.
“This is so important, because students usually drop classes because of textbook costs,” Cole said. “Since 2014, we have saved students $1.4 million in textbooks they buy.”
The library is also requesting a 50 cent increase for the cost of video streaming services. According to Heaton, many professors would like to enrich the content they are using with video.
“We simply don’t have the legal right to broadcast video content unless we get rights to stream it,” Heaton said. “We usually end up paying several hundred dollars for an individual video for courses.”
The 50 cent increase will make the demand for videos easier and keep them from eating into other funds for databases, Heaton said.
Naomi Ward, senator for the College of Humanities and Social Services, said new funds for the library are important because many professors want to use OER, but don’t know how. While most of the student senate agreed with the dollar increase for an OER coordinator, only seven were in favor of the 50 cents for streaming services.
“The 50 cents sounds more like a want than a need,” student advocate vice president Paulina Rivera-Soto said. Senator Cooper Karras from the College of Engineering added that “there is more of a need for book replacements than videos.”
Members of the student fee board will spend the next two weeks talking to students in their departments and get their take on the new fees. An official vote will be held in the senate chambers on Jan. 22, 2020.
The senate can amend and partially accept a fee increase. All fee increases must be approved by USU President Noelle Cockett.
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